On JNU incident: Unite against the attack on Democratic spaces

The incidents in JNU over the last few days have attracted lot of debate and attention. The Central Executive Committee of Students’ Federation of India strongly condemns the secessionist slogans raised by a section of students. Such irresponsible slogans can’t be accepted at any cost. We are against all kind of separatist tendencies.

SFI has had a glorious history of struggle against the secessionist forces across the country. Hundreds of SFI activists have given the supreme sacrifice of their lives while fighting against the secessionist forces in Assam and Punjab in the 1980s. SFI was the only organization which had the courage to give the slogan “We will let our bodies be cut into pieces, but not allow to break this country.” We not only cherish this rich history but are carrying it forward as well.

RSS-ABVP is using this incident to attack the democratic ethos of JNU and paint all left students’ organizations as ‘anti-national’. SFI’s Uttarakhand state committee office was attacked by ABVP using the JNU incident as the pretext. Social media campaign #ShutdownJNU is being run, targeting the entire university as ‘anti-national.’ There are concerted efforts to tarnish the entire left and democratic students’ movement. In the last 24 hours, SFI’s offices in Dehradun and Lucknow have been attacked by ABVP.

Heavy police machinery has been deployed inside the JNU campus and police has started indiscriminate combing operation in the hostels.

CEC of SFI calls upon all democratic sections to maintain steadfast unity against this assault on the democratic processes, particularly in JNU. We can’t allow fascist outfits to use the actions of some of the misguided elements to attack the entire university.